Turkey kills 1 civilian crossing into Syria along border

[1]Reuters reports[2] that one of eight civilians who were trying to cross the Turkey-Syria border was killed by a Turkish border patrol.

The Syrian civil war has escalated as international terrorist group Hezbollah, which is backed by Iran, has entered the war[3] on the side of embattled President Bashar al-Assad. Turkey is apparently smuggling shipments of small arms to the rebels, who are divided between Islamist al-Qaeda elements and secular forces.

This recent occurrence shows how volatile the region has become and the potential for a large spillover effect, where lawlessness, refugees and violence is on the rise. Lebanon is facing a possible civil war as a car bomb detonated in a Hezbollah part of Beirut, the country’s capital and as Lebanese elements protest Hezbollah’s involvement.

Israel has remained adamant it will stay out of the war[4], while Saudi and Qatari backers fund the Syrian rebels. Russia[5] and Iran continue to buoy up the Syrian government regime led by Assad. The West, which includes Great Britain[6], France and the U.S., are sending advanced weaponry[7] to the rebels on several conditions.

The United Nations is as ineffective as ever[8] and cannot stem the rising tide of violence, where over 70,000 Syrians have been killed over the course of the two-year-old civil war.